This invention relates to copolymers of ethylene, alkyl acrylates, a cure-site monomer, and a process for the preparation of the copolymers. More particularly, this invention is concerned with alternating copolymers of ethylene and alkyl acrylates wherein the alkyl contains 1 to about 8 carbon atoms and selected cure-site monomers, and a process for the preparation for these copolymers.
Polymers of ethylene are well known in the art and have found valuable use as elastomers. However, the known elastomeric ethylene polymers have not proved entirely satisfactory because of their low resistance to hydrocarbon oils and oxidation.
Although it is known that polymers consisting essentially of alkyl acrylate monomer units process good resistance to oils and oxidation, their low temperature properties are unsatisfactory for some applications. Ethylene copolymers containing up to 40 weight % alkyl acrylate units are also known. However, such copolymers generally do not provide substantial improvement in oil resistance over ethylene/.alpha.-olefin copolymers.
Thus, there hs been a need for an ethylene polymer having improved low temperature properties, resistance to oils and oxidation, and which can be readily cured to form a vulcanizate.